Page 39 of The Bossy One

She stamped her foot. “I don’twantto go outside. I want to watch a movie. I want—”

“Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want,” I said, frustrated. “So let’s take a deep breath and stop whining about it, okay?”

Catie looked shocked. Then her lip quivered as she tried not to cry.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry.” I crouched down to her level and pulled her into a hug. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. It’s absolutely okay for you to be honest about your feelings and talk about what you want. I just had a bad night’s sleep, and it’s making me grumpy. I’m very sorry.” I pulled back and squeezed her shoulders. “You didn’t do anything wrong—I’m the one who’s having a bad day. You are such an amazing kid, okay?”

“Even when I’m whiney?” She sniffed a glob of snot back into her nose.

“You’re not whiny. I shouldn’t have said that,” I said. “But even if you have a bad day sometimes and need to whine, you’re still amazing. I promise. Let’s get you a tissue, okay?”

Catie nodded. “I can go get the soccer ball so we can go outside.”

“That sounds like a perfect plan. Thank you for being so helpful,” I said. Catie perked up a bit at the praise and headed off to go find her soccer ball.

I stepped into the hall to find a tissue box and saw Declan just around the corner.

My stomach clenched. How long had he been there?

I could be firm with kids, but I almost never lost my temper like that. Declan and I were finally in a good place, but if he thought I was being an unprofessional jerk to his niece…

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Shoot, I thought.He heard.

“I’m so sorry about that,” I said. “I promise it will never happen again.”

“I know,” Declan said. Gently, he added, “I’m guessing this is about more than a bad night’s sleep?”

I looked away. I wanted to tell him not to pry, but I’d lost that right when I’d snapped at Catie. “Today’s the anniversary of my parents’ death. I didn’t realize it would affect me this way. Normally I take a few days off, and go to the lake where we used to vacation together. But this year I’m in Ireland, so…” I shook my head. “It’s no excuse.”

Declan studied me, his face impassive. A part of me wondered if he was calculating how quickly he could find a less emotionally damaged nanny.

Instead, he said, “Give me twenty minutes.”

* * *

Twenty minutes later Declan interrupted my and Catie’s game of “try not to kick the soccer ball into the flowers” to announce that he was taking the day off work, and we were all going to some place called Salthill.

Catie whooped.

“It’s a beach, not a lakeshore,” Declan said to me. “But I think you’ll like it.”

He was right. In less than an hour, Declan and I were spreading out a blanket on the sand while Catie scoped out a spot to build her sandcastle. Compared to wide open Pacific coast beaches I’d grown up with, Salthill felt small and quaint. We sat on a thin strip of sand. There was a boardwalk at our back with stores catering to beach goers. Farther down the boardwalk, a Ferris wheel rose over everything.

It was probably more crowded most of the time, but since we’d hit it in the middle of the week, it wasn’t too bad.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day, but at only sixty-five degrees, I was feeling a bit silly for wearing my swimsuit under my T-shirt and jeans. “Is it always this cold?” I asked.

“What are you talking about?” Declan stripped off his shirt, revealing a lean, muscled chest with a shadow of dark chest hair. “This is summer weather at its finest.”

“I think everyone in California would disagree,” I joked.

He flashed me a smile. “You’re not in California,a chara.”

Declan held my gaze, and I felt something twist and flutter in my stomach. Then he turned his attention to Catie. “Want to go get water for your sandcastle?”

“Yes!” She took Declan’s hand and skipped down toward the water, bucket in hand. They looked sweet together.

---